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Thursday, July 30, 2009

These are 2 easy recipes that I made last night. I would think that most kids (not my own, of course - ugh!) would love both of these dishes and they are sooooo easy that I had to share! The first was mini zucchini pizzas (thank you Betsy.) You just slice a couple of zucchinis, put them on a greased baking sheet, salt and pepper and then add a dollop of pizza sauce...

You then add some cheese. I used parm and cheddar.

And bake at 350 until the cheese melts! YUM!!!

The second dish was a beef roast (yes, this from a vegetarian!) and requires a crock pot! If you have kids and DON'T have a crock pot - WHAT???? I just get any kind of beef roast that happens to be on sale (I can usually find them for around $5) and put it in the crock pot with 1/4 cup worchesire sauce or balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup ketchup and cook on high for about 5 hours. My Hubby (Happy Birthday, BTW) really likes this and so should your kids:) Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of it but it is fork tender and (according to my hubby - because I am indeed a vegetarian - delicious)!!!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Today we took Lizzie for a check up with her clubfoot doc - the wonderful Dr. H.!! We usually go for regular check ups at her office but today we went back to the hospital where Lizzie was casted - 18 times!! We wanted to see the staff that had been so wonderful to us during our 21 week clubfoot journey. When we told Lizzie where she was going and that she was going to see Mrs. K.(the very sweet nurse who operated the very evil casting saw), her first fearful reaction was "no cast Momma!!!" I assured her that she would not get a cast today and that was followed by a smiling, "no cast Momma!!!" and a "Hooray!!" I sometimes have to stop and remind myself about all that Lizzie has been through in her 3 years on this earth. She is one of the strongest, most resilient souls that I have ever known. No matter what is thrown at her, she always seems to be able to find love and courage and happiness and laughter within herself and that is such a gift. I am still desperately waiting for her "peace" to come. I know it is coming and I see it developing a little bit more everyday but it is still not completely within her yet. She loves big and crys big and we are working on that peaceful middle ground that I can see but can't quite get to yet. So we continue to love her, love her, love her! One days like today, I get reminded of her journey and her incredible progress and her amazing capacity for love and for loving life. She did get a great report card today and a 6 month reprieve. It was so good to see everyone and have them confirm for me what I sometimes forget! I thought I would post a couple of older videos of Lizzie as we began this journey a little over a year ago! I cannot wait to revisit this post a year from now!!

This is video of Lizzie still in her orphanage. It is hard to tell, but her foot is turned almost completely backwards and is upside down.

This is when Lizzie figured out how to walk in her first cast!

She even figured out how to walk in her brace! We called it the brace shuffle!

And the first time she walked with a straight foot!

To the present!

Lizzie May, you take my breath away!! I look forward to watching you run as fast as those little legs will go on the soccer field, dance your way across a stage, walk up to get your high school diploma and walk down the isle to a very lucky young man!!!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

First of all, thank you to everyone who replied to my "Red Rice" post! Tricia, I laughed out loud at your "boogers and ketchup" comment!! Lizzie doesn't eat either, by the way!! Although, if boogers were full of fat and calories, I just might encourage the habit!! They aren't, are they? Hehe!! Anyway, we had another fabulous weekend at E. Beach and guess what Lizzie discovered? ICE CREAM!!! Talk about fat and calories!! Amazing what a little sand, surf and heat and humidity will do!!! Do you think ice cream is good on broccoli?? Below is a picture of what Lizzie looked like after devouring, I mean enjoying her chocolate vanilla swirl!

Here are some other cute shots from our little piece of heaven on earth!!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

As most of my family and friends and well anyone who will listen knows, Lizzie just does not eat. We keep her going on a sugary sweet comb of Pediasure (chaching) and Carnation Instant Breakfast, or for those in the know - CIB!! We have tried working with a completely wonderful OT and even put her a medication to help stimulate her appetite. Some things worked a little bit while others failed miserably. Some things worked for a while and then all of a sudden, not! It has been very difficult and frustrating to say the least. Lizzie came to us at 2 years of age weighing 17 pounds and wearing 3 month size clothing. Can you even imagine? I couldn't and I still have a hard time remembering exactly HOW little she was. As soon as we got her, my first instinct was to FEED her. Lizzie, however, had another plan in mind. As happy as she seemed to be with us, she had just lost control over everything single thing in her life. Everything all at once was turned upside down and no longer her familiar routine. As difficult as I believe her life was, it was still her life as she knew it and we were messing all that up. I think that the only thing she could control was whether or not she was going to eat and what she was going to eat. Give Lizzie a bag of "blue" Doritos and she can inhale that thing in less time that it takes to open the bag. Put her at the table for a meal, however, and you would think she was being tortured! I am lucky to get 2 bites in her of any one thing on her plate! For anyone who has ever dealt with eating issues, you know how extremely difficult it can be. You don't want to make food more of an issue than it already is, but you want them to eat - desperately - especially when they weigh 17 pounds at 2 years old!! Anyway, there are 2 foods that Lizzie just loves - tacos and red rice. She seems to prefer spicy! I wonder why??? Hehe!! I was heating her up some red rice in the microwave the other day and turned around to find this:

"My red rice!"

She didn't eat the whole bowl but was pretty darn close!! I slept good that night!!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Every now and then, I pull out my old camera (you remember the non-digital ones, right?) and have a little fun! It's funny because as soon as I take a picture, the girls will ask to see it! I have to admit to a bit of impatience there as well!! I also get annoyed at not being able to snap a bi zillion pictures to get the one good shot! Yes, it sometimes takes me that many to get a good one - ugh! I just have to point, shoot and pray!! This time, however, I had the feeling that I had gotten some really great shots and delivered the precious film to CVS to await perfection!! I was greatly disappointed when I noticed that about half of the pictures were not there!! Either the old camera needs to be put out of it's misery or CVS really screwed up!! Do they know how hard it is to get my kids to pose for a picture???? Anyway, here are a few of the survivors!!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ok, so you have to be a Wiggles aficionado (try getting that one right without spell check) to appreciate the title of this post, or have a couple of 3 year olds living with you!!! However, I decided that we would make like a Wiggle and create a fruit salad. It's healthy and delicious and oh so Summery (is that a word?)! It looked absolutely beautiful when it was done, but... Christian kind of liked the green things, Charlie would eat the red things and Lizzie liked the purple things! Caleb liked none of it and Em and I, well just let me say that we would have made Wiggle Anthony proud!!!!

We also decided to balance the healthy stuff with a little sugar!!! We made cookies!!! Once again, the sprinkles reigned supreme! I swear, when these girls get married, they are going to want sprinkles on their wedding cakes!!!! UGH!!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

With permission, I have posted an email sent to one of my yahoo groups. Please take a look and help if you can!!! She has some really cute stuff and it is for a beautiful cause!!

Hi friends,I'm a PAP and mostly a lurker here. Through blogs and groups I have been privileged to have become friends with several families who have mentored me and encouraged me as I wait for His timing to begin the process to bring our daughter home. One such dear friend has two daughters from China and has recently felt called to bring home a 4 year old girl who weighs just 15 lbs and has Downs Syndrome from Eastern Europe. I am donating 100% of the profits from my business thru July 22 to the family's adoption fund. I have a hair bow business. Would you please consider stopping by my blog to read about the fundraiser and click on the links to Reece's Rainbow about Hailee and the Salem family? If your girls will be needing bows, headbands, clips, etc. for back to school it would be wonderful for your purchase to help being a child home. I also have great adult headbands and wristlet key fobs and if you don't have girls but you blog you can help spread the word! I'm up to $70 in the first day for this little girl!!Thank you,Kelly www.GirlyGirlBowtique.blogspot.comwww.GirlyGirlBowtique.com

Our very sweet foster dog, Kendal has finally found a wonderful forever home!! Kendal is a very special, older Golden Retriever who lost his elderly owner. The family was sending him to the pound (shame on them) when Grateful Goldens found out about him. One thing lead to another and he found is way here until he could be placed with another family. That was January!!! We have had Kendal for a very long time and it was very hard to say good bye to him today. I do know, however that he is going to a great home, an older couple who are looking to spoil him and love him forever!!! We will miss you sweet Kendal! Have a wonderful life!!! You deserve it!!!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Monday, July 13, 2009

OK, so yesterday the girls wanted to dress up in their tutus. Being the crazy, camera toting, Mom of 3 boys that I am, I thought, "Great, we will have some fun, girly dress up time AND I can get some beautiful pictures of my sweet, gentle girls!! Yeah right!! Who was I kidding??? I will post the beautiful picture (notice the the lack of a plural there) that I got AND what happened after.

What sweet little girls - right?

Let the Ballet Brawl Begin!!

Marsh Ballet

After the ballet brawl (no ballerinas were injured during the taking of those photos), the kids and I decided to take a bike ride, tutus and all! We have some really beautiful bike trails in our neighborhood and we ended up on one of the trails that takes you over the marsh. We decided to stop and get off the bikes for a while to enjoy the view. Good so far!! The kids loved the fiddler crabs and before I knew it the boys were in the marsh chasing the crabs, quickly followed by the girls - tutus and all!!! Big brothers are great, aren't they??? I had to laugh and wondered what would our neighbors think if they looked out their windows and saw two tiny ballerinas tromping around in the marsh!! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I was taking pics with my phone!! Enjoy the pics of our Marsh Ballet!!

Crabs!!What Crabs? Where?Right here!!!Do I really want to be in here???Notice the mud!!!!All is well!!!

So after the wonderful ballets we enjoyed, it was time to go home and relax! As we were eating popsicles in the backyard, I saw it!!! The weed! Although I do not garden (well, pretty much never), I do love to pull weeds!! Strange, I know but I just love to pull up a weed, root and all!!! Insert maniacal laughter here!!!! Anyway, this particular weed was, um, just a little bit, um, shall we say large!! As I pulled up this weed, I felt just like a big game hunter!!! Hehehe!!!!